Where do we start. . .

Athletic Recruits
1

<p>My son is a passionate high school sophomore varsity athlete who may have a shot at college athletics in a few sports (swimming, track, football) - where do we start?</p>

2

<p>You’ve already started. He may want to start focusing on his favorite sport, and don’t forget coaches love recruiting talented athletes with good grades.</p>

3

<p>Yes, we’re trying to encourage the good grades. So far so good, but we have to keep up the encouragement.</p>

4

<p>It would seem to me that if a coach recruits an athlete, s/he will want to see dedication to his/her sport. Is there one that your son prefers over the others? I know people like to say they are a “three sport athlete” but at higher levels it’s pretty hard to combine some sports with others. </p>

<p>On the other hand, if he’s just a general all-around good athlete who wants to participate as a walk-on, in that case he should just keep up as he is. Check into schools this year that he might be interested in attending and look at their athlete’s stats and figure out where he might fit in, or have him to talk to his coaches. This is the year when he should start putting out feelers because his junior year will be a year to spend narrowing down his list.</p>

5

<p>win! he starts by winning!</p>

6

<p>My S played 3 sports until senior year.Then he focused on the sport in which he was the most outstanding. It’s fine. Get As, that really helps. Submit the coaching forms in junior year.See what turns up. Worked well for us.
My S is a natural athlete who is happily playing his sport at Midd! I’d have to say that in our state, there were fewer than 10 kids with his combination of excellent academics, plus his skill in his sport. He was not the best athletically, but these selective schools need very smart kids with good grades. He’d never be able to compete D1, and as he isn’t planning on going to the Olympics, he’s fine with that.</p>

7

<p>I’d say it depends. A couple of points:

  1. Some track disciplines (throwing, sprint) are very easily combinable with football.
  2. Div. III coaches (and even some Div. I coaches) like to see three-sports athletes.
  3. While many athletes focus on only one sport, other top athletes burn out and have to mix it up with another sport.
  4. However, keep in mind that in many sports, simply being on a school’s varsity team (unless it’s a very good team) doesn’t cut it to get recruited.</p>